Tragedy at The Great Wall - Part 1

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In mid-October, 2012, my American friend from Ohio emailed me that he had arrived in Jinan, Shandong, China, to teach English at the Shandong University of Science and Technology. He wrote that he took a trip to Beijing, taking his days off in early October and extended his visit to the Jinshanling. It was a typical Beijing clear sky of autumn to visit a relatively uncrowded section of the Great Wall. He sent a couple of excellent photos from Jinshanling, including German visitors he met on the bus. The Jinshanling Great Wall where my Ohio American visited is located northeast of Beijing, beyond the Miyun Reservoir, and further away than the Badaling section of the Great Wall which is always crowded with tourists.

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My personal trip to the Great Wall was in the summer of 1996. It was on my way back from Yunnan Province, where I joined the Vermont University Summer Program of China Studies for Teachers. The State of Vermont has sister state relations with Yunnan Province as both have mountainous geography. The summer program was specifically set up for Vermont High School teachers but accepted a few applicants from other states. I applied from California when I was still a resident. There were 18 participants including myself - 14 women and four men. I was paired with a male teacher from Connecticut. The program ran for one month, hosted by Yunnan Normal College (now Yunnan Normal University) in Kunming. We spent mornings in class taking lessons ranging from Beginning Chinese and History to Calligraphy and more. In the afternoon we visited local schools of children, temples, scenic parks, etc. Three weekends were for long distance travels to Shilin, Dali, etc. We all flew back to Beijing after Yunnan and the Chinese International Exchange Bureau gave us a trip to the Great Wall while we were there.

We went to Badaling, due north of Beijing, the most popular and most visited site of the Great Wall. Xiao Song, an interpreter/guide from the Bureau accompanied us. She was a wonderful woman with whom I corresponded for a number of years afterwards. We took a cable to the North Eighth Tower (just about 1000 meters tall) and walked down. Xiao Song emphasized that Badaling was the most heavily guarded military outpost, reflecting the location's (Juyongguan Pass) strategic importance. Back then, Badalin was less crowded, even in summer.

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The morning of November 6 brought devastating news: four elderly Japanese tourists became trapped in a snowstorm on the Great Wall of China. Then around noontime, sad news followed. Two women had died of hypothermia. One woman survived and was rescued followed by another. A missing man had been found, but was pronounced dead. The president of the travel agency was on his way to Beijing. Amuse Travel was the same agent that lost 7 elderly trekkers and a guide in a central Hokkaido mountain called Tomrausi (2.141m) in 2009. News media wondered if the "punitive 50 day business closure" didn't give enough of a message for the agency to improve safety precautions.

We learned that the tour was for nine days -- 100 kilometer trek of the Great Wall in a particular area reinforced by the Ming Dynasty, and the first trial project for Amuse Travel Agency. The Japanese trekkers were accompanied by a Chinese guide named Ming Pingming, 25 years old.

On Nov. 11, the remains of three seniors were flown back. One was flown to Fukuoka and transported to Kitakyushu, where I live. I learned he was 76 years old and an ex-city official, who served as Chief Librarian, financial manager as well as auditor. Upon his retirement in 2008, he took up mountain trekking as his hobby, often accompanied by his wife. I might have been on that excursion if I had known about it.

I had to dig deep to find out what happened in Huailai County, in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province. My Google search led to the Huiali County website where the Chinese Guide Pingming spoke in Chinese, which was translated into Japanese.

"On Nov. 3, we started climbing at 8 AM and at noon we were at the Great Wall near Mt. Hengling. Snow started falling fast and heavily at about 1 p.m. and soon we were snowed in, white everywhere. We knew about the snow forecast, but thought we could finish our trek before the snow came. Falling snow deepened and we had no shelter around as the temperature quickly went down. Everyone had worn special winter clothes but not enough to protect ourselves from mountain chills. Especially, Mr. Y, 76 years old, was unable to bear it and his condition gradually deteriorated. In view of the crisis, I asked a young Chinese named Gong, who voluntarily joined the trek group through the Internet, to go down and get immediate help. While waiting for help, we shouldered together to warm up. While so doing, we saw that Mr. Y's breath became stifled. Women encouraged him by rubbing his face and hands. I gave him semi-AED treatment without a machine but to no avail. As night approached, he closed his eyes. I couldn't tell the exact time he passed away. Snow continued without mercy. Three women were also getting weaker. We shared the last piece of chocolate we carried. Since there was no sign of rescue, I myself decided to seek help. Mountain roads which usually took one hour, took more than 4 hours. It was around noon when l finally climbed down, falling and tumbling as I approached a village and saw a group of rescuers. I was near exhaustion and taken to a hospital. Rescuers, however, searched for a long time for the three women left behind. I'm sorry that I was unable to assist in locating those left behind."

Samurai Missionary

”I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

- John 12:24

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It was close to my retirement when browsing the UCSB Library, I found the book titled Samurai Missionary published in 1985. While perusing the book, the name "Imabari" jumped out at me and caught me by surprise.

This is the city in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island where I was born and raised. I never imagined Imabari as a stage for international drama for the scriptures. The book was written by Rev. Jiro Nakano, an MD and Hawaiian pastor, in memory of Rev. Shiro Sokabe (1865-1949), the Samurai Missionary himself.

As a new Doshisha University graduate, Rev. Sokabe answered the call from the Hawaiian Board of Missions to work with struggling immigrant Japanese plantation workers and their families on the Big Island. This was not exactly a trip to paradise. He overcame poverty, prejudice and rigid social class systems to raise hundreds of plantation children, teach them about Jesus, and show them how to fit into the community. His inner strength and his countenance made him an effective communicator in the Japanese community and to plantation managers. Not only did he educate and raise hundreds of children, but he helped the immigrants make the transition to their new country of residence. His ministry here began only a few short years after Hawaii was annexed by the United States. Meanwhile, a woman named Shika Nakagawa, an acquaintance of Shiro, who had been trained as a nurse at Doshisha University, was courted, and brought over for marriage to work together with him. Shika became a mother figure for many of the children, especially the girls.

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By now you are probably wondering how Imabari figures into the story. Kenjiro, aka author Roka Tokutomi (1968-1927), was a friend of Rev. Sokabe – a friendship fostered during their Imabari days in 1885. Both were disciples of Rev. Tokio Yokoi, the first pastor of the Imabari church, which was the very first church which opened in 1880 in Shikoku. Rev. Yokoi is the son of Shonan Yokoi, a scholar and political reformer of the Meiji Government, who was unfortunately assassinated in Kyoto. Kenjiro, who was just baptized in his native city of Kumamoto, wanted to work under his cousin Rev. Yokoi in Imabari.

Shiro Sokabe had been with Rev. Yokoi since 1883, as an active and devoted minister. He was popular in the church as a good singer. Nicknamed "Koya", Shiro was described as a high-cheeked boned and a peach-complexioned young man with downcast eyes. These were the distinct features of the Samurai Missionary as per the author Rev. Nakano.

The book details their youthful daily routines they took together along with another disciple Hayashi. The three of them went out preaching (neighbors called them "the three fanatics") to the area that had a thriving towel manufacturing industry as well as poor fishing villages. They often met with disappointment, going back to their commissioned off-school building upstairs room they shared to sleep. They made their beds on a big table and slept with kaya (mosquito net) over the beds. Even with three square meals a day, they had big appetites and energy, and used to pawn their belongings to buy more food, fruits - watermelons in particular, and cheap sweets. One night, they bought plenty of beef, ate it all and slept. When Kenjiro woke up in the morning, he found Shiro was missing and he didn't come back until the next day.

Shiro, upon returning, told friends that he fasted all day, spent the night in meditation and prayer, on top of Mt. Chikami. I, as an Imabarian, cannot count the number of times I climbed Mt. Chikami (244 meters) in my childhood. Now, a park today, the mountain was my backyard. That's how Shiro was nicknamed Koya. While three quarreled and grappled, their friendship grew and Kenjiro gave advice and even pawned his silk Kimono for Shiro to travel to Kumamoto to join the Oe Gijuku (School) built by Soho Tokutomi, Kenjiro's brother. Via Matsuyama, Shiro walked all the way to Sata Point, crossed the Inland Sea by fisherman's boat to Kyushu and walked again to Kumamoto.

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Thus, reading such detailed descriptions of Imabari in the Samurai Missionary, I suspected the author Rev. Nakano may have been influenced by the work of novelist Kenjiro Tokutomi, who left many tales of his youth, such as "My Memoirs", "Shadow of Death", "Fuji" (the incomplete posthumous work) etc. because Rev. Shiro Sokabe wanted everything he had written destroyed upon his death. He was a man of integrity who desired no fame.

During the past 10 years, I searched in vain for Kenjiro Tokutomi's writing where he might have mentioned Shiro Sokabe. When I did a search on his name on the Internet upon my return to Japan, all that came up was: "Shiro Sokabe, born in Fukuoka Prefecture, descendent of Sokabe clans in Tosa Province".

A few weeks ago, I Googled Shiro Sokabe and found his digitized book online in the National Diet Library in 2002, since his copyright expired. The book title was $3000 Short! I was finally able to discover Kenjiro Tokutomi's preface, which was his "Imabari Memoir" I had been looking for. $3000 Short! was written in 1926 by Rev. Shiro Sokabe to raise funds to build a new church and school called Honomu Gijuku (after Oe Gijuku in Kumamoto) in Hawaii, in memory of the past Shika Sokabe. He wrote in the book that $6000 had been raised but the project required $3000 more. Apparently Rev. Sokabe sent a letter to ask Kenjiro Tokutomi for financial assistance. Inasmuch as Kenjiro wished to help his lifelong friend (he had not seen Shiro for 30 or more years), he was not in a position to pawn all his belonging as he did in his younger days.

He saluted, however, the Sokabe couple’s lifework to help and educate 1500 Japanese American children in Hawaii and thanked Honomu Gijuku for modeling themselves after Oe-Gijuku. Kenjiro wrote about all the episodes that took place in Imabari. Rev. Nakano quoted Kenjiro’s reply in an English translation in his book Samurai Missionary. $3000 Short! is roughly 100 pages long, consisting mainly of Rev. Sokabe's sermons, including "Addressing all the youths, boys and girls, born in Hawaii" (Chapter 1). The book, written in Japanese, was originally printed in Tokyo.

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Hilo Coast United Church of Christ is the name given to Sokabe's chapel. Headstones of most Japanese Americans at the Melany Cemetery nearby face Mauna Kea, but Shika and Shiro Sokabe's headstone face the Pacific Ocean (see photo). Honomu's current population is 600 as of 2007, of which Japanese Americans make up approximately 100, less than 20%. The scholarship foundation started by Sokabe's good will is still going strong. Some of the Nisei children disciplined by Rev. Sokabe went on to enlist and fight in the 442nd Battalion.

The homepage of Hilo Coast United Church of Christ shows in its heritage page l) Imabari Church where Rev. Sokabe was baptized; and 2) Doshisha University Church, known as the first church in Japan funded by American money, where the reverend was educated.

Kim’s Mont Blanc Ski Trek

There’s a million skiers, but one skier who comes to my mind is one of my old friends in Yokohama. Her name is Kim, a Hokkaido native. She responded to me immediately when I wrote about my Czech friend and fellow Toastmaster, Jiri Psenicka, a cross-country skier and silver iron winner.

She had done significant traveling in the U.S. after losing her husband and we had talks of common interests of touring the U.S. Then her son, a medical student, studied at Purdue and she joined him for a while in West Lafayette, Indiana. She talked also of skiing in Hokkaido and Tohoku and I remember she sent me a card from the Zao Ski Resort. However, skiing was a one-sided topic, as I am no skier. I told her I am a swimmer and she said she also swims to keep physically fit for skiing. Apparently my silver man story attracted her attention, and she shared with me that she was planning her first ski trip to Europe with a group of friends.

A month ago I received her photo story of her trip to Bourg Saint Maurice. I found therein a sparkling shot of Mont Blanc. I live in a seven-story apartment called Mont Blanc 2. I didn’t particularly choose it. It’s just a coincidence.

I Googled "Travelog Mont Blanc” out of curiosity, and I found many Japanese mountaineers, more men than women, have attempted the climb, some gave up half-way because of weather, but many were successful with the help of local guides. Another surprise was 70% of the summer Chamonix visitors and 30% of the average annualized visitors were Japanese. I asked Kim if she extended her trip to Chamonix, 30 km north on the opposite side of Mont Blanc from Bourg Saint Maurice. Her answer was “no”. Her party consisted of all skiers, no climbers.

Her French destination had a number of fascinating historical names when I looked at a map: Bourg Saint Maurice and the Great San Bernard Pass, and Geneva and the Rhone Alps. Saint Maurice is the most blessed and honorable patron Saint in Western Europe who valiantly fought and died for Christianity around the 3rd century. The Great San Bernard Pass was where Napoleon Bonaparte invaded into Italy in 1798.

Geneva, the cosmopolitan metropolis of Switzerland - few people know that it was an independent republic for at least until the 16th century when it became a Swiss Canton. Jean Jacques Rousseau blessed, “May a Republic, so wisely and happily constituted, last forever, for an example to other nations, and for the felicity of it own citizen.” Geneva is home to the European Union Headquarters and UNO, CERN, Red Cross, and accommodates 160 States representing their respective Government with its Swiss-hearted hospitality. I’ve been to Zurich on business, but not to Geneva. The 812 kilometer River Rhone flowing into the Mediterranean originates from the watershed Rhone Alps. The Jura Mountains, sub-alpine mountain range, separates the Rhine and Rhone Rivers and forms part of the watershed for each.

Switzerland is another country of language and cultural diversity and I have studied its historical complexities and agonies with great interest and respect. Kim said English was spoken with a French accent, but she found no problems.

Well, so much for a somewhat of a long introduction. Let’s see what her two photo album shows. The first album is immersed in daily skiing and great regimen. The second is about shopping. All of the travelers must be good skiers taking precautions that anything could happen in a foreign land. They carried their shoes and rented their skis. They planned well and everything went as planned, never over-strained, enjoying lunches and taking photos during breaks. Once off the Mountain Railway, they waited turns for the lift, climbed up the slope and skied down.

Years ago, I had taken Kenny, my Japanese skier friend, to New Hampshire. Our mutual American friends took Kenny and me to his weather station on Mt. Washington. Kenny, the skier, went up alone to the Tuckerman Ravine snow walls while we watched him laboring upward for an hour or so, but skiing down in minutes. I wonder if the ravine has gotten a lift by now.

As the direction guide board shows, they skied Paradisky which had quite a lift network; Kim said wherever they skied down, they were connected back to the departure point. That way they could concentrate on their skiing and the skier’s bliss. One day they skied down to the Italian side and tried Italian dishes for a change. Kim cited differences of trail lengths between Japan and France. Japanese trails are rather short averaging around five kilometers or so, while in the French Alps, it is more than double. The affordable lift pass tickets for seniors are terrific, although senior classification comes in 3 brackets, 65-72, 72-75, and 75 and up (no charge if you are over 75 years of age). They were thankful to be able to take advantage.

When airfare is disregarded, their daily out-of-pocket expenses are about the same between Japan and France. The high valued Japanese Yen was an advantage in France. Kim felt they found an all-around bargain spot by following the rule “don’t go where people throng”. The other album is about their weekend shopping experience in Bourg Saint Maurice. Kim’s group enjoyed this trip so much, they may go back next spring, when they can get lower apartment rates.

The Washugyu Dream Venture

Ever heard of Washoku? It’s a culinary and cultural tradition of Japanese dishes now quietly prevailing worldwide. If you know Washoku, then Wagyu may not sound peculiar.

“Wagyu” is defined by Larry Olsmed, who wrote “Kobe Beef Scam” in the Forbes magazine (4/13/12) as follows : “Wagyu literary means the Japanese cows”. "Beyond that, its definition gets vaguer depending on who you ask and what country you are in. It could be taken to refer to all cows in Japan, including the Western and European breeds with which we are familiar with, but it is most commonly used to refer collectively to all historically Japanese breeds, of which there are four major ones.

Many U.S. ranchers, and the Executive Director of the American Wagyu Association, wrote in to insist that Wagyu is a breed, but I have found zero evidence to support that argument, and lots to refute it. Nonetheless, many farmers and waiting staffs, insist on calling it a breed.

Furthermore, many claim emphatically that it is the same breed as Kobe beef. This is not true. The cattle used for Kobe beef are a form of Wagyu yes, just as Cabernet Sauvignon is a form of grapes. But, not all grapes are Cabernet, and not all Wagyu is Kobe. However, as I said before, Kobe is not necessarily the best, and in Japan, other forms of beef, and other breeds of Wagyu, are sometimes considered superior. All of the four major Japanese breeds generally lumped under the Wagyu umbrella are considered high quality.”

San Diego, where I spent 20 plus years, had a Black Angus Restaurant near the Kearny Mesa plant of my ex-employer. However, Kobe Misono Restaurant opened up its branch also in the same area. I frequented Kobe Misono both for business and personal use. I was told Kobe Misono is headquartered in Sannomiya Kobe, founded by Shigeji Fujioka (1909-1999) back in 1945 and he coined the word “Teppanyaki”, grilling on an iron plate, combining cooking technique with stylish performance to create a feast both culinary and visually entertaining. At its Kobe headquarters, Tajima-gyu beef was served. In San Diego I was told Wagyu beef from Colorado was being served. It was the first time that I heard the name Wagyu.

I thought Wagyu denotes Japanese cows. That was not the case. A decade later, I heard the name Wagyu from the man I sat besides at a local Toastmasters meeting in Kitakyushu. He temporarily returned from eastern Oregon. I asked “Is it near Wala Wala, Washington.” He stared back at me with surprise. “You know Wala Wala?” I told him “My friend moved from San Diego to Wala Wala, famous for jumbo onions right!” Our conversation got lively. He introduced himself as Hurry Yano, a Kyushu native who worked at the Hermiston Ranch, where 2000 Wagyu are raised, about 7 miles south of the Columbia River.

At the next meeting, Hurry brought photographs of his ranch. However, the brochure featured “Washugyu” instead of Wagyu, so I aksed why? He explained “Washugyu” is the premium American Wagyu Beef he named, the topmost Wagyu. As a breeder specialist from Japan, Hurry is responsible for formulating a variety of proprietary feed that includes hay, wheat, crushed soy beans, corns, and rice straws, which is the most important and probably most mythical part of raising cattle. He confided he had special contracts to obtain rice straws from Sacramento Nisei farmers. Wagyu breeding in the U.S. is not for the weak-willed.

He was close to tears when he heard that the former President of the American Wagyu Association praised Washugyu as one of the best U.S. beef at a national ranchers gathering; proof that Washugyu was recognized as the best branded Wagyu of the Wagyu in the U.S. Responding to my question, "How many Wagyu in the U.S.?", Hurry answered 30,000 to 40,000. This was contrary to my ball park estimate of a million in view of Larry Olsmed’s contention mentioned above, and based on the 2002 USDA statistics of 73 million beef cows. Because of the severe drought, this year’s prices of all feed rose dramatically. Hurry is afraid his ranch will be hit hard.

I recall my visits to three cattle ranches while I stayed in the U.S. One was in Lubbock Texas. The Kearny Mesa plant my ex-employer leased was owned by a Lubbock rancher. When the plant went through a routine safety checkup, the examiner found a crack in the main roof beam that required expensive repairs. We needed the owner’s approval and acceptance of payment. I carried repair drawings and flew to Lubbock. The owner had quite a cattle ranch as well as oil fields. He drove me around his big ranch after our meeting, before I left for the airport. His ranchers served both as cowboys and oil riggers.

The second ranch I visited was when I accompanied the president of my ex-employer to a huge ranch near Lick Observatory located east of San Jose, which was jointly owned by Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett, the founders of Hewlett-Packard. My boss and I were given a chance to accompany a deer hunt on a jeep, chasing horned deer all day until we got one at twilight and had venison dinner that night. The cows there were called red-white face.

The third one was near Taos, New Mexico. It was called CS Ranch with 130,000 acres of land at the foot of Sangre de Cristo Mountain. It was founded by Frank Springer in 1873. There was no business connection to this visit. It was part of an extended pleasure trip I took to imagine how life was out in the “west.” The numbers and acreage of American ranches are dwindling steadily each year.

In highest cattle production worldwide, U.S. has lost its place to China, Brazil and India, but U.S. is still tops in terms of safety and consumption. I salute Hurry and wish him success in his dream venture.

Notes & References

1) American Wagyu Association

2) Oregon Washugyu

3) Wagyu-Japan Beef, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries

4) Raising Wagyu Cattle in Japan

San Diego and the English Channel Connection

San Diego, California, where I spent more than 20 years of my prime life, is famous for two open water swimming events held annually. One is a mile/ half a mile open sea on Coronado Island on July 4th, thanks to the NASNI Coronado Navy Swim Association. The other is a one mile/two mile/three mile La Jolla Rough Water Swim (LJRWS) on Sept 9, between Scripps Institute (known previously Biological) Pier and La Jolla Cove. Both have shorter courses for younger and master (elderly) competitors. The former celebrates its 54th and the latter celebrate the 82nd this year.

The LJRWS was first held in 1916 in commemoration of the World's Fair Pan American Exposition in Balboa Park and the 2nd in l923 and the 3rd in 1931 and became an annual event after the 4th time in 1948, sponsored by the La Jolla Chamber of Commerce and Town Council. The course for the LJRWS has finally been settled after a number of variations throughout the years. The Gatorman 3 mile championship, swimming "cove to the pier and back" is similar to the "grueling" original endurance route of 1916, as per the LJRWS. The number of swimmers for LJRWS zoomed year after year from 7 men in 1916 to today's estimate of more than 2,000.

As a swimmer myself, I was interested in the above events and wanted to very much participate. However, I was stung severely by a jellyfish while swimming in one of the southern Los Angeles beaches and quit ocean swimming and thereafter engaged in pool swimming only.

While in San Diego, I followed the swimming career of Point Loma's native daughter, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995), who has a record of crossing the English Channel (aka: Dover Channel) a number of times. San Diego Union newspaperman Arthur Ribbel wrote in his "Yesterday in the West" that it was in 1950 that "San Diegans almost to the household, hung excitedly before their radios when their own Florence Chadwick was stroking her arduous way to world fame as an English Channel Swimmer. Some of those hometowners wondered if, during some of her grueling hours in the water, she didn't think back to the carefree times when she negotiated the Silvergate as a girl."

Florence began her swimming career at the age of five and entered swimming competitions at ten. Reportedly she never won a U.S. National Championship, but she won all the major west coast rough water swims, including the Silvergate and the La Jolla Rough Water Swim.

Florence, inspired by Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, sought a way as to how she could accomplish her little girl dreams. She grabbed a chance to work for ARAMCO as a comptometer operator at a desert installation. After a year she got a transfer to the Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company office near the Persian Gulf where she began pre-channel training. She said "After two years I picked up the pay I have saved to sponsor myself and left for France to complete my training". What motivation and wonderful planning. When she finally swam in Dover, she broke the record time set by Gertrude Ederle 24 years earlier by more than one hour. She swam the 21 mile wide channel in thirteen hours twenty minutes. One year later, she became the first woman to swim from England to France, against the flow of the channel's strong currents. She swam 4 times, three times against the current.

My June 1982 diary noted the day Florence Chadwick was inducted into the Hall of Champions and, it was at this ceremony that she met Mayor Pete Wilson and Police Chief Bill Kolender. I also scribbled down Florence's reminiscence in my diary. "The successful swims are recalled in details, the unsuccessful ones are slipping from memory."

Notes:

l. July 4th Coronado Rough Water Swim

2. La Jolla Cove Rough Water Swim

3. Florence Chadwick Record (1950-1955) at Dover Museum

Florence was a typist and swimming coach from California. 4 successes in 10 attempts. 32 years old when she became the first woman to swim from England to France in 1951, St. Margaret's Bay to Sangatte. This also made her the first woman to do the double as she had swam France to England in 1950 (Cap Gris Nez to South Foreland). Her three England to France swims each took the record for the fastest time, going from 16 hours 22 mins in 1951 to 13 hours 55 mins in 1955. On her last 3 successful swims she also attempted to swim there-and-back but gave up on the return leg.

England to France: 9/10/1951 (success), 8/2/1953 (failed), 8/15/1953 (failed), 9/4/1953 (success), 8/15/1955 (failed), 9/23/1955 (failed), 9/26/1955 (failed), 10/12/1955 (success)

France to England: 7/26/1950 (failed), 8/8/1950 (success)

Incredible Lady

Quiet Land
by Aun San Suu Kyi (ASSK)

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell
if there's someone who's listening
for secrets they can sell.
The informers are paid in the blood of the land
and no one dares speak what the tyrants won't stand.

In the quiet land of Burma,
no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.
In the quiet land of Burma,
you can hear it in the silence of the crowd

In the Quiet Land, no one can say
when the soldiers are coming
to carry them away.
The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;
the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils...

In the Quiet Land....
In the Quiet Land, no one can hear
what is silenced by murder
and covered up with fear.
But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound
that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.

"But coolest of all is the shade of the Buddha's teachings"
Dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi by Karen Ethelsdattar, Union City, NJ

The shade of a tree is cool indeed
The shade of parents is cooler
The shade of teachers is cooler still
The shade of the ruler is yet more cool
But coolest of all is the shade of the Buddha’s teachings

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On July 19, 2012, Burma celebrated its 65th and its first state-level Martyr's Day for "Bogyoke" (General) Aun San (1915- 1937) in Yangon. Her daughter Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Laureate (1991), was the one laying a flower wreath. Announced recently was a Bogyoke movie under planning to commemorate the hero Bogyoke’s 100th Birthday Anniversary due in three years, with Daw Suu Kyi serving as honorary Chairman, and the funding campaign for the movie has started.

Daw Suu Kyi just returned from her high profile European trip, addressing the UN ILO assembly in Switzerland, speaking as Nobel Prize Laureate in Norway, giving thanks at an Amnesty International Event in Ireland, receiving honorary doctorate at her alma mater Oxford, and meeting with Dalai Lama. Family-wise, she celebrated her 65th birthday with children she hasn't seen for years. Yes, she wouldn't have thought that taking care of her mother would keep her this long in Burma, missing her dying British husband in U.K. It was rumored she was a scapegoat for the should-be-returnee Aun San Oo, her brother, from San Diego, California. She was a housewife, mother, and hoping to study Burmese literature.

I've heard about Daw Suu Kyi's famous speech "Freedom from Fear" which started with memorable phrase "It's not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power...". Her intelligence and eloquence appealed to Burmese and brought the National League for Democracy (NLD) a landslide victory in 1990 over the National Unity Party (NUP), which is the military Junta. The Military Junta hastened to put her under house arrest and ever since she has been resisting bullying generals with the power of the powerless, fighting bravely to achieve democracy, protecting human rights through nonviolent means. She should be encouraged with the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 199l. In l992 she was awarded with the Jawaharal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India and the International Simon Bolivar Prize from the government of Venezuela.

Now she is an icon, a fighter of Burma, and her movie about her was made in Thailand ahead of her father Aun San, which was just released in Japan very recently. The government has finally ceded, inching toward democracy, allowing her to travel and attend parliament.

Upon returning from Europe, she stood for the first time from her NLD seat toward the back of Naypyitaw parliament to call for an end to discrimination against ethnic minorities as part of the "emergence of a genuine democratic country." "Based on the spirit of equality, mutual respect and understanding," she said, "I would like to urge all lawmakers to enact necessary laws or amend laws to protect the rights of ethnic nationalities." Suu Kyi's comments came in support of a motion by a ruling-party lawmaker from the ethnic Shan state to uphold ethnic minority rights. Prior to her European trip, she had traveled Mae Sot, Thailand to visit ethnic Kachin and Karen refugees who fled war at home. I'm glad she highlighted basic ethnic issues, requiring urgent debates.

Daw Suu Kyi has been touching on Buddhism in her speeches including the recent Nobel speech. Her favorite word is "Metta" or compassion and she translates it as "loving kindness". Another one is "Mudita" - sympathetic joy. She seems to be practicing 14th Dalai Lama's teaching "Without love, human society is in a very difficult state: without love, in the future, we will face tremendous problems - Love is the center of human life". Another is "nyien chan" She explains it literally as a beneficial coolness that comes when a fire is extinguished. I was amazed that such short words have a profound connotation. The Australian National University listed the word in its language list of security as coolness - the state of ease.

The paper reported her travel plans for 2013, which includes USA and Japan. She had worked at the United Nations Building in New York and in Japan to study at the University of Kyoto during 1985-86, so she will be happy to reunite with many of her friends, I'm sure.

Burma aka Myanmar

I had a gut feeling that I was less than 200 miles (280 km) east of Myitkyina, Burma when I traveled to Dali, Yunnan, China. Yes, that's on the Allied Forces supply road to rescue Chiang Kai-Shek in Chongqing, Sichuan, during WWII. The reason I remember these foreign names is because of the map we used to draw at school with the rising sun flag where the Japanese Imperial armies occupied: Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, etc. However, in order to shut the above Burma Supply Road, the Japanese Army dared an impossible invasion into Assam, India, through the steep Arakan Mountains, with heavy guns, munitions, and limited supplies of medicines and miscellaneous necessary needs. A mere ideological tactic (Allied called it a folly), dismissing oppositions and negative factors such as the rainy season, and malaria. The Allied named it the Battle of Kohima and the Japanese coded it Imphal Operations. The battle ended in a death toll of 85,600 * Japanese soldiers; almost a total defeat, succumbing to thirst and hunger, terrible sickness, appalling dysentery (per battle records) and bones laying along the retreat road.

Myitkyina, capital of Katin, northernmost province of Burma, occupied by the Japanese, was retaken by General Stilwell, (1883-1946), a West Point graduate, the Allied Commander, more well known as Vinegar Joe.

Very few records of the war exist because most of the soldiers at the front perished. One best selling fiction Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama released right after the war became a movie and I had to see it. It was a tearjerker all throughout. One defected Japanese soldier became a monk to bury and mourn for dead friends. Takeyama, who had no war experience, claimed he wrote a children's story, fantasizing the battleground as a "Home Sweet Home" chorus competition between British and Japanese armies.

Mr. Koichi Tsukamoto (1920-1998), the founder and manufacturer of Wacol, Kyoto women’s apparel, was one of three survivors out of a 55 man platoon.

I recently read a sad story that one Japanese soldier sought shelter at his Burmese friend's house as he had no family in Japan. While he was taken care of by his friend's daughter, the two got on well. Everything seemed to be going alright, until one day he ventured out to see a dentist (he claimed he couldn't stand his toothache) and was caught by the police and sent to a concentration camp. Eventually he was sent back to Japan. He tried to recontact his Burmese family, but was out of luck.

Decades later, he learned through the news media that his son in Burma was looking for him. The reason he got no response from Burma was because the family was ostracized from the village for hiding a Japanese defector.

I was about to move on to another story when I saw a book titled: And I survived in Burma by Kojima Shoichi (1920-), published in 2011 in Fukuoka, which led me to pursue the war aftermath a bit more. Kojima lives in Fukuoka; actually his parents lived in Kitakyushu, where I now live. He fought in two wars, Guadalcanal and Kohima, both losing battles. I could tell that he was born under an unlucky star.

The 124th Battalion was from Fukuoka. At the Guadalcanal landing (Aug 1942), he wrote: the carrying boat was shipwrecked on the coral reef while fleeing from the Allied Air night raids, 300 meters away from the seashore. Soldiers had to swim to shore. On landing alone, one third of the battalion was lost. On the island during fighting, he injured his leg and was unable to walk. His Hancho advised him that they had to move on without him. He made a wooden stick for a cane in order to follow, limping. The retreat order came and they left Guadalcanal on January 1943. The 4,000 Fukuoka Battalion had only 200 soldiers left, all with injuries and health issues of some kind.

I had read that former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (1941-) listed Guadalcanal Diary written by Richard William Tregaskis (1916-1973), as one of his favorite books. I wonder why he specifically mentioned it. I'll read it when I finish reading Kojima's story.

The 200 Fukuoka survivors were then sent to Saigon on June 1943 to be incorporated into 34th Army Division for the Impahl Operations, but he redeveloped malaria which he suffered in Guadalcanal. He was sent to a Hong Kong Hospital from Saigon for special treatment. When he recuperated, he traveled alone to catch up with his troop via railroad, and random rides available, which led through retreating routes.

I was impressed with his way of thinking that you can't walk the ocean back from Guadalcanal, but once you were on the continent, the road led to Japan. Even limping, he had the fortitude to continue walking. He and two friends walked over 1,000 kilometers to Chiangmai, Thailand. He was very thankful for all the help and alms from local Burmese along the way.

Notes:

*This figure was taken as the most reliable number from the "Museum of Kohima" of York (UK) Website - "85,600 Japanese soldiers participated in the Imphal Mission, 30,000 died in action, of starvation and illness and 20,000 were injured or succumbed to malnutrition and illness. The road between Kohima and Imphal was called ‘White Bone Road’ on which lay the remains of many corpses in military uniform who have never been taken back to their home."

A monument was built at the Kohima site with the script: "When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today", a British soldier inspired by the Greek poet Simonides' (556-468 BC) epitaph "Oh, stranger, tell the Spartans that we live here obedient to the world." See the photos of Kohima Bridge (battle zero ground), and the Monument.

The same website has a link to Sato Memorial, posted on Feb 13, 2012, by Akiko MacDonald, Honorary Secretary of Burma Campaign Society, related with the Anglo-Japan Alliance.